The new Slovenian construction law came into force
The New Construction Act (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia No. 199/21, hereinafter: GZ-1), adopted by the National Assembly on 17 December 2021, enters into force on 1 June 2022. In December 2021, a new Spatial Planning Act was adopted. As a result, a six-month deadline was set for the entry into force of both laws. Thus, for a longer period of time, it seemed necessary for the amendments to be ready for practical application and for the competent authorities to adopt all key implementing regulations. Whether we are now ready to put the new legislation into practice and whether the administrative barriers have really been overcome will be shown by the actual application of the new Construction Act and the Spatial Planning Act in practice.
The new Construction Act was adopted with the aim of eliminating unnecessary administrative barriers and adapting the identified issues in practice. The changes were additionally necessary to eliminate the established constitutional inconsistency between the inspection measure of removal or prohibition of the use of the building and the individual’s right to respect for housing.
Below is a brief overview of the key changes brought about by the GZ-1.
Changes in the administrative procedure
- Digitization – establishment of the eBuilding system (eBuilding) by 1 January 2024. All communication and business with the competent authorities will, with rare exceptions, be electronic. In addition, hearings may be held by videoconference.
- After the digitization phase, the payment of the municipal contribution will be postponed to the registration of the construction start phase and will no longer be a condition for issuing a building permit.
- Possibility of obtaining a building permit within 30 days after the shortened ascertainment procedure in accordance with the General Administrative Procedure Act, if all conditions are met. The issuance of a building permit within 30 days is made possible by the fact that the administrative unit will not check the substantive compliance with the spatial plan, which is currently to be implemented by the municipality.
- The possibility of the investor to, at his own risk and in the event that the facility has no impact on the environment, start construction before the building permit becomes final (but not before the permit is issued).
- Possibility of a simplified procedure for obtaining a usable permit for single-family homes.
Changes related to construction
- Introduction of the “minor reconstruction” classification, which bridges the gap between maintenance work and reconstruction and does not require a building permit.
- Arrangement and possibility of erecting temporary facilities for seasonal, emergency, storage or construction purposes.
- Changes in the rights, tasks and obligations of participants in the construction of facilities (ie investor, designer, supervisor and contractor).
- Introduction of the function of construction manager, which performs the newly defined construction management service.
Inspection procedures and offenses
- The possibility of reusing used materials and products under certain conditions, following the principles of sustainable and circular economy.
- Arranging the possibility and procedure for postponing the inspection measure for the removal or prohibition of the use of the building to ensure the right to respect for the housing of individuals.
- Inspections of non-demanding facilities can also be carried out by municipal inspections (previously, such inspections were only possible for simple facilities).
- Determination of fines for minor offenses of investors not only according to the size of the investor, but also according to the classification of the facility according to complexity.
- Introduction of offenses for the project manager and the authorized expert.
Building and operating permits
- The possibility of renovating the building only on the basis of a report on the start of construction in cases where the damaged building needs to be repaired as soon as possible due to a natural or other disaster.
- Obligatory to obtain a building permit in case of removal of objects that touch or are up to one meter away from the neighboring building.
- Mandatory review of implementation documentation in case the project is not made according to the recommended method (outside the technical guidelines).
- Amended provisions regarding the integrated building permit.
- Obligatory to obtain all necessary opinions of the competent authorities before submitting an application for a building permit. Administrative authorities will have to take full account of the opinions of the competent authorities and organizations acting in the proceedings. This also applies to determining the compliance of construction with spatial acts, where the opinion is given by the municipality.
- The beginning of the procedure for issuing a building permit is allowed without the submitted proof of building right for infrastructure facilities.
Possibilities of legalization
- Introduction of the definition of legalization in legislation.
- Amended provisions regarding legalization so that legalization is also possible for parts of the building; at the same time, it is clearly stated that the illegal facility needs to be completed to deal with the legalization decision.
- Simplified procedure for obtaining a permit for a longer-term facility for facilities built before 1 January 2005.
- For all single-dwelling buildings that were built in accordance with the building permit before 1 June 2018 and are duly registered, the legal presumption of the issued use permit has been established.
Amendments to the new construction law are long-awaited and welcome. However, it remains to be seen whether the identified issues in use have been implemented and improved enough.
Note that the above overview is only a brief summary of the highlights of the amendments to the Construction Act, which are thoroughly regulated by law.